Several years ago, the author taught a course called First-Year experience. A student named Sean mentioned that he played "water pong." Sean, a high-achieving student who was also a member of the lacrosse team, explained that water pong was a game with the rules of beer pong, using water rather than beer. Sean volunteered an explanation of his…

This article describes the author's cross-pedagogical approach to co-teaching with student affairs colleagues. The central goal of this approach is to help students create meaning for their lives. The author also gives an account of an incident that occurred in one seminar and illustrates the benefits of a crossover approach.

Most individuals who work in higher education seek the same outcome: student learning. Knowing that partnerships between faculty and student affairs educators offer the best hope for students' experiencing the kind of learning that higher education promises, individuals at Baylor University are taking small steps toward building and sustaining…

As a professor in a graduate program in college student affairs, the author thinks of herself as an expert on the college experience. For the past 12 years, she has taught courses and conducted research on college students, their learning and development, the campus environment, and trends in higher education. Like any good scholar, she makes it a…

In this article, the author describes how she challenged her class to think critically about multicultural competence and to analyze objectively the liberal perspectives of Allan G. Johnson and conservative ideas of Dinesh D'Souza using Raechele Pope, Amy Reynolds, and John Mueller's characteristics of multiculturally competent student affairs…

How can higher education faculty, staff, and administrators create campus environments that guide students in their development within chosen disciplines and careers as well as in ways that contribute to a common good? How can they help students find a sense of calling in life? What does it mean to cultivate a sense of purpose in students? Are…

One of the most pressing challenges when facilitating a conversation on human crises is the normalizing push to move forward and avoid living in the past. Unfortunately, when conversations about human crises are ignored or rushed through, the learning process is stunted. Students lose a valuable opportunity to develop empathy and cultural…

Educating the student body on mental health involves outreach to groups not normally exposed to this information, including athletes, ethnic groups, residence hall inhabitants, fraternities and sororities, and international students. Frontline responders can help facilitate this outreach through initiatives that involve presentations by counselors…

After April 16, 2007, Hokies United needed to heal itself and the Virginia Tech community. "About Campus" editorial assistant Brianne MacEachran interviewed Steve Schneiter, a faculty co-creator of the campus group that has organized responses to tragedies since the events of September 11, 2001, about managing suffering, this time their own.…

When the author first came to Virginia Tech years ago, she realized that family was a value shared by administrators, faculty, and staff. Here, there is a deep caring and sense of responsibility for the well-being of students. As an instructor and a staff member of the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Office in the College of Liberal Arts and Human…

This article features Paul Robeson Cultural Center (PRCC) at Pennsylvania State University, which uses a model of cultural education and engagement to design and deliver programs and services committed to enhancing the university's cultural climate. This article shares a cultural programming framework that was used to steward change and growth in…

The major premise of this article is inspired by Viktor Frankl's words: "The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged--survival for what? Ever more people today have the "means" to live, but no "meaning" to live for." Thousands of students who have come through the author's college courses during the last…

In this article, the author relates one of the experiences in his teaching career that made him assess his perceptions about racism. In his first year of teaching in a graduate program in college student personnel, he approached his class on multiculturalism with hope that his course would somehow be different. One day, four participants of the…

The Strategic Retention Initiative is an administrative practice which involves calling all first-year students. The initiative is guided by an institutional commitment to the well-being of students and represents an institutional investment in student persistence. The development and implementation of the Strategic Retention Initiative was…

Racially themed parties serve multiple functions on college campuses. First, it represent cohesion among members of a campus subculture--usually that of predominantly white student organizations. It is possible or even probable that many black students who heard about the party in the opening vignette questioned whether they were safe at an…